scholarly journals Low-Investment Fully Mechanized Harvesting of Short-Rotation Poplar (populus spp.) Plantations

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Spinelli ◽  
Natascia Magagnotti ◽  
Carolina Lombardini
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Fresh Weight ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Farm Tractor ◽  
Poplar Plantations ◽  
Populus Spp ◽  
Whole Tree

European short-rotation poplar plantations are harvested at 5–8 year rotations and produce relatively small stems (0.05–0.10 m3), which represent a major challenge when designing a cost-effective harvesting chain. Until now, the challenge has been met through whole-tree chipping, which allows mass-handling all through the harvesting chain. However, the production of higher value logs for the panel industry requires devising different solutions. This study presents a fully mechanized low-investment system using an excavator-based feller-buncher shear, a grapple skidder obtained from the conversion of a common farm tractor and an excavator-mounted grapple saw adapted to work as a makeshift slasher. The system was tested in Northwestern Italy, achieving high productivity (between 14 and 20 t fresh weight per scheduled machine hour) and low harvesting cost (between 9 and 14 € t−1 fresh weight). However, crosscutting quality needs further improvement, because almost 50% of the logs did not meet factory specifications. Solutions to solve this issue are proposed. The tested system is suitable for local small-scale operators because it can be acquired with a reasonable capital investment (400,000 €) and it is versatile enough for use in a number of alternative jobs, when the coppice harvesting season is over.

The effect of cutting technique on the mortality and re-sprouting vigor of poplar stumps in short-rotation plantations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Spinelli ◽  
Natascia Magagnotti ◽  
Carolina Lombardini ◽  
Elaine Cristina Leonello
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Populus Nigra ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Shoot Height ◽  
Hybrid Poplars ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Poplar Plantations ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Cost

Mechanical felling is the cost-effective solution for harvesting short-rotation poplar plantations, but the damage inflicted by conventional shear cutting devices on tree stumps has raised concerns about stump mortality and re-sprouting vigor - both crucial to coppice regeneration. In order to determine if such concerns are justified, the experiment monitored the survival and resprouting vigor of eleven sample blocks, composed of two 10-stump row segments cut according to either of two methods: 1) lternately with a chainsaw (control) or 2) and with an excavator-mounted shear. The sample blocks were located within the same plantation, established 7 years earlier with hybrid poplars (Populus nigra x P. deltoides), belonging to the "AF8" clone. One year after cutting, no differences were found between treatments in terms of stump mortality, number of shoots per stump, shoot diameter at 30 cm from the insertion and shoot height. These results support the use of mechanical shears to fell short-rotation poplar coppice. However, further studies should be conducted on multiple fields and clones for a safe generalization of this preliminary study.

Cost-effective Integrated Harvesting of Short-Rotation Poplar Plantations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Spinelli ◽  
Natascia Magagnotti ◽  
Carolina Lombardini ◽  
Elaine Cristina Leonello
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effective ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Poplar Plantations

scholarly journals Small Parcel Fuel Reduction with a Low-Investment, High-Mobility Operation

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike J. DeLasaux ◽  
Bruce R. Hartsough ◽  
Raffaele Spinelli ◽  
Natascia Magagnotti
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Cost ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Fuel Treatment ◽  
Pickup Truck ◽  
Cutting Head ◽  
Whole Tree ◽  
All Treatment

Abstract Fuel reduction treatments are especially urgent near homes, where a stand replacement fire would also endanger property and human lives. However, the forested properties associated with homes are often too small for cost-effective mechanized fuel treatment performed with traditional methods and equipment. This project tested a small rubber-tracked skid-steer specially modified for forestry operations that can provide all the functions of a complete harvesting system. The skid-steer can, alternately,carry a hot saw for tree felling, a processor to delimb and buck felled trees, a brush cutting head for mastication, and a log-grapple to transport logs and trees. All of the equipment can be transported on a trailer pulled by a heavy pickup truck, which makes for fast, economical movement between project sites. The study confirmed that this system is well suited to small-parcel conditions around home sites and performs best on even terrain, moderate slopes, and softwood trees with a dbh between 5 and 8 in. It took from 7 to 15 productive machine-hours ac−1 to perform all treatment phases (i.e., mastication, felling, processing, and skidding). The occurrence of delays significantly increased this figures, bringing the average 9.7 productive hours ac−1 to 13.5 worksite hours. Treatment cost was estimated at $480 ac−1 and $1,146 ac−1 for whole-tree and cut-to-length harvesting, respectively. In addition to offering a reasonable treatment cost, the system has the advantage of requiring a low investment, which allows small-scale enterprises to get into the business.

scholarly journals Individual Monitoring of Behavior to Enhance Productivity and Welfare of Animals in Small-Scale Intensive Cattle Grazing Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Anzai ◽  
Masahiko Hirata
Keyword(s):  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Herd Behavior ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Grazing Systems

To enhance productivity and welfare of individual animals maintained as a group, management based on individual behavioral tendencies is essential, which requires individual monitoring of animal behavior. Several behavior monitoring systems are currently available to livestock producers. The data obtained from these systems are analyzed to detect significantly high or low frequencies or intensities of behavior associated with estrus, calving and poor health conditions based on thresholds or past trends of the monitored individual. However, because behavior under grazing is more complex and changeable than under confinement, behavioral symptoms are more difficult to detect, and on-farm monitoring of individual animal behavior has been less validated and utilized in grazing systems. Nevertheless, individual monitoring of all animals in a herd is more feasible and cost-effective in small-scale intensive grazing systems because these systems pursue high productivity at the individual level with smaller herd size than large-scale extensive systems. Individually tailored management to enhance productivity and welfare will be possible by focusing on inter-individual differences in behavior within a herd. Behavior of an individual can be analyzed and understood in more detail by comparing it with those of the herd mates. Higher or lower levels of specific activities than the other animals can be associated with health disorders, temporal changes in physiological states, or productivity- or welfare-related traits. More sensitive monitoring and detection of behavioral responses of individuals to changes in nutritional, physical and social environments will lead to more efficient and welfare-conscious management that better meets the needs of individuals.

Changing the face of short fiber –a review of the eucalyptus revolution

TAPPI Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 353-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER W. HART ◽  
RICARDO B. SANTOS
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Wood Quality ◽  
Short Fiber ◽  
Fiber Volume ◽  
Private Industry ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Paper Manufacturing ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
Eucalypt Plantations ◽  
Eucalyptus Plantations

Eucalyptus plantations have been used as a source of short fiber for papermaking for more than 40 years. The development in genetic improvement and clonal programs has produced improved density plantations that have resulted in fast growing, increased fiber volume eucalypts becoming the most widely used source of short fibers in the world. High productivity and short rotation times, along with the uniformity and improved wood quality of clonal plantations have attracted private industry investment in eucalypt plantations. Currently, only a handful of species or hybrids are used in plantation efforts. Many more species are being evaluated to either enhance fiber properties or expand the range of eucalypt plantations. Eucalyptus plantations are frequently planted on nonforested land and may be used, in part, as a means of conserving native forests while allowing the production of high quality fiber for economic uses. Finally, eucalypt plantations can provide significant carbon sinks, which may be used to help offset the carbon released from burning fossil fuels. The development and expansion of eucalypt plantations represents a substantial revolution in pulp and paper manufacturing.

Urban pollution control strategy: SBR technology to treat agricultural waste from pig farm in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Lindawati Lindawati
Keyword(s):  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Batch Reactor ◽  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Land Application ◽  
Pig Manure ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Piggery Wastewater ◽  
Pig Farm ◽  
Number Of Customers

Reduction of food rations and shortages is one of the impacts of the increasing human population. Food sector industries then try to cope with the fast growing number of customers. Agribusiness sector gains its popularity in these recent years, including pig farm. The increase trend of animal farming industry is likely to bring increasing pollution problem unless effective treatment methods are used. The main problems related to the pig farm include odor nuisance and pig manure disposal. The existing land application of piggery wastewater is the traditional way to discharge the wastewater. This may yield in land and water contamination, due to the accumulation of unused nutrients by crop plant. A case study of a large commercial pig farm from Australia is proposed to apply in smaller scale in Indonesia. Operational strategies for the small-scale SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) treating piggery effluent were developed based on lab-scale experiments. Due to SBR characteristics, which are money-saving and space-saving, it is very suitable to be applied in urban area. An economic evaluation was made of various process options. The cost estimation showed that SBR is a cost effective process, allowing operational batches to be adjusted to reduce unnecessary aeration cost. A reduction in the aeration cost was achieved by shortening the batch time from 24-h to 8-h. A comparison of three different SBR options showed that smaller size reactors could be more flexible and cost effective when compared with the larger ones.

scholarly journals Diversity minimization through part combination – a Portuguese railway infrastructure case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
Diogo Rechena ◽  
Luís Sousa ◽  
Virgínia Infante ◽  
Elsa Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Railway Infrastructure ◽  
Sustainable Services ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Design Diversity ◽  
Requirement Changes

Abstract With increasing market needs for product and service variety, companies struggle to provide diversity in cost-effective ways. Through standardization of components with a low perceived added value, companies can take advantage of economies of scale while maintaining product diversity. Railway infrastructure managers face similar challenges of providing economically sustainable services while dealing with the costs of maintaining the system diversity. Typically, unintended design diversity stems from design practices in which existing solutions are not reused for new problems and new solutions are rarely planned considering the dynamics of requirement changes. In this paper we provide a methodology to assess how to standardize different designs to minimize design diversity and to assess design divergence in a product family. The developed methodology is able to take into account any set of standardization compatibility constraints that the user can define. The methodology was applied in the context of a small-scale railway infrastructure manager using a dataset of 223 unique designs of functionally similar components from its electrification system. Depending on the activated compatibility constraints, results indicate that over 60% of components can be reduced to a set of 86 unique designs.

The potential cost of environmental certification to vegetation management in plantation forests: a New Zealand case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 986-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Rolando ◽  
Michael S. Watt ◽  
Jerzy A. Zabkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Vegetation Management ◽  
Rate Of Return ◽  
Internal Rate Of Return ◽  
Mechanical Control ◽  
Vegetation Control ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Plantation Forests

Plantation forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council have restrictions on herbicide use. Since certified plantations are dependant on herbicides for cost-effective vegetation management, compliance requires a shift from current chemical practices. Using New Zealand plantation forests as a case study, discounted cash flow analyses were used to estimate the cost of certification-compliant vegetation control regimes compared with current non-compliant methods. We examined methods that (i) reduce the quantity of herbicides by using spot control and (ii) avoid the use of herbicides by using weed mats, manual, and mechanical control. Cost analyses were undertaken for low-, medium-, and high-productivity sites. The internal rate of return of the non-compliant regime was between 5% and 5.8% across the productivity range. Spot control was cheaper than current non-compliant practice. However, spot control is limited by site suitability and the availability of labour. Non-chemical control methods were expensive relative to other regimes. Reductions in the internal rate of return varied across low- and high-productivity sites between 0.8% and 0.5% for manual control, 1.3% and 0.8% for mechanical control, and 1.7% and 1.0% for weed mats. Meeting the goals of certification while retaining cost-effective vegetation control presents a challenge to the plantation forestry sector.

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